Kanadesaga

Depends on whose infield your fly is popping in.

__________________
"..., because hope don't park the motherfucking car."

DRS112

Are you propositioning me?

Kanadesaga

NO! that was more of a, you can make all the "innuendo" jeter jokes and ARod comments you want. Just be clear of whom they are about.

__________________
"..., because hope don't park the motherfucking car."

DRS112

oh...well...it's not like I was hoping you were or anything

Kanadesaga

that's good because my wife doesn't let me "proposition" anyone.

__________________
"..., because hope don't park the motherfucking car."

DRS112

Well...we wouldn't want her to keep you from posting here.

Okay...I'm done hi-jacking your thread...for now

Noob920

You've never heard of "The Big Red Machine"? Didn't they win 3 WS in the 70's?

__________________
Originally Posted by BillCosby

I am usually a nice easy going person........ Although ever time I drive by that bar my Xwife cheated on me @ I get a bit troubled.........

But I am sure that is not the reason I kick that damn dog after........

Seems like he deserves it when I take that route home......

Noob920

"Permission" is a terrible thing - if you have to get it.

__________________
Originally Posted by BillCosby

I am usually a nice easy going person........ Although ever time I drive by that bar my Xwife cheated on me @ I get a bit troubled.........

But I am sure that is not the reason I kick that damn dog after........

Seems like he deserves it when I take that route home......

Kanadesaga

Notes: Wright keeps eyes on prize
Superstar minimizes offseason distractions to keep edge

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Perhaps more than any Mets player, David Wright has embraced New York City's glitz and glamour. His smile already plastered on billboards and subway cars throughout the five boroughs, Wright could have been born on Broadway and raised on the red carpet. He's as close to Hollywood as anyone at Shea.
And that's exactly what worries him. Even with all the distractions, Wright knows that he's a baseball player first. So this past offseason, coming off the Mets' September swoon and a Gold Glove season personally, he decided to cool down the endorsements and focus more strictly on baseball.

"In the past -- when I'd go to Oregon to do some stuff with Nike, or go to San Diego to do some stuff with Sony -- I'd miss a couple of workouts," Wright said. "This year, if there was something I had to do, I'd make sure it was scheduled on days when I didn't have workouts."

That meant cancelling some trips he had already planned, and saying no to "basically everything." Whatever it took to become faster and stronger and better.

The more committed winter training plan helped Wright report to camp at 205 pounds, down a bit from his normal playing weight of about 210 pounds. That was by design. As much as he enjoys all the celebrity, Wright remains well aware of why he gained it in the first place.

"I learned from an early age that those endorsements go away if you don't take care of business on the field," Wright said. "You always have to remember that you get these perks because of what you do on the field. You have to take care of business."

Happy Endy: For Endy Chavez, winter ball couldn't have gone worse.

Chavez pulled his right hamstring and injured his left ankle on the same play this winter, sliding into home plate during a game in his native Venezuela. He said he expects to be ready to play by the start of the Grapefruit League schedule, though right now his ankle is preventing him from running at full strength.

"The only thing is my ankle," Chavez said. "It's fine, but it's a little weak, so I've got to get it stronger. Everything else is good."

Despite the bad experience, Chavez doesn't have any plans to abandon winter ball anytime soon. Not, of course, unless the Mets make him.

"I hope not, because that helps me a lot," Chavez said. "But who knows? We're here, so we have to respect some policies. I'll see if I can still play back home or not."

Approval rating: After Mike Pelfrey's bullpen session Monday, Mets owner Fred Wilpon approached his young starter to offer some words of encouragement.

"He just told me that I looked like I had a little more confidence," Pelfrey said. "He said I was hitting spots a little better than usual."

Pelfrey, who's currently battling for the fifth starter's spot in the rotation, spent much of the morning working on his changeup, which he consistently mixed with fastballs during the bullpen session. And Wilpon's presence didn't deter him one bit.

"Really, when you're throwing, you don't even notice," Pelfrey said. "You don't look behind you. Sometimes, you're throwing in front of 50,000 people. Eventually, you just block it all out."

Better late than never: Now fully healthy on the field, reliever Duaner Sanchez appears to have solved his problems off it, as well.

Mets manager Willie Randolph disciplined Sanchez last spring for reporting to camp late on multiple occasions, though there have been no such transgressions so far this year. And with coaches and players raving about Sanchez's velocity and control on the mound after two surgeries, that might be the most encouraging news of all.

"You can see a different maturity about him," Randolph said. "I had my little things about him being tardy every once in a while, but he's been great all spring. Hopefully, he'll continue to take care of his business and be responsible."

Mets bits: First baseman Carlos Delgado reported to camp on Monday and made sure to vouch for teammate Carlos Beltran, who on Saturday declared his Mets the team to beat in the National League East. "What is he going to say?" Delgado said. "We're going to lose?" ... Outfielder Moises Alou is the only Mets regular yet to join the team. He's scheduled for a physical early Tuesday, the deadline for position players to report to camp.

__________________
"..., because hope don't park the motherfucking car."

Kanadesaga

Notes: Alou feeling rejuvenated
No longer pondering retirement, veteran now thinking titles
By Anthony DiComo and Marty Noble / MLB.com

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Baseball didn't used to be this fun. At least not for Moises Alou, the guy biding his time in the corner and counting down each second until he could retire. It's not that he didn't like baseball -- just that he didn't want to play it anymore. He had his career. Now it was someone else's turn.
Yet something changed between the waning moments of last September's collapse and the opening notes of this spring. No longer did Alou feel tired, old or jaded. Suddenly, he began boasting the passion and zeal of a rookie.

"I don't know what happened to me," Alou said. "Maybe New York is the fountain of youth. Seriously, the past three years I've been looking forward for the season to be over, for me to go home and retire. But now I'm looking forward to having a good season, so they can ask me to come back and play another year."

Those thoughts of retirement are gone. Now Alou's worried about winning a title, about anchoring the middle of the Mets' lineup, about staying healthy enough to amass 500 at-bats. The guy who seriously considered retiring after last summer has vanished.

"I really had a great time in the offseason -- hunting, fishing, going to the beach," Alou said. "But that's not what I like doing the most. Playing baseball is what I like doing the most, and I would love to do that hopefully for another year, another couple of years."

He feels old, of course. He is old, by baseball standards. Yet, while Alou will turn 42 in July, that's really not cause for alarm -- at least not for a guy who hit .341 at the age of 41.

What does prompt worry is his health. Not since 2004 has Alou played in even 125 games, and he's well aware that last summer's renaissance -- he hit .402 in September -- may have stemmed from the fact that he missed two and a half months due to injury. If Alou indeed has found the fountain of youth, he forgot to splash his medical records.

Alou did, however, remember to wash his hands -- those lightning-quick hands that can still turn on any fastball this side of Nolan Ryan. They're what got him here in the first place, and they're what's kept him here since.

"Some guys just have a knack," manager Willie Randolph said. "They just have that gift, man. He's just one of those rare people who can roll out of bed and hit a line drive somewhere."

That's a good talent to have for a baseball player who admits that every time he rolls out of that bed, he struggles a little more to make it to the bathroom. Joints creak. Bones crack. And critics snicker.

That's why Alou began working out earlier this offseason -- so early, in fact, that his trainer in the Dominican Republic looked twice when he saw Alou stride into the gym not two weeks removed from the end of the season.

What else was Alou going to do with all his free time? He wasn't about to watch any of the playoffs -- "I hate watching baseball," he said -- and all that hunting, fishing and sunbathing wasn't cutting it, either. He enjoys that stuff, sure. But he's since realized that he enjoys other things more.

"I love baseball," Alou said. "That's why I'm still here."

Police blotter: Reliever Ambiorix Burgos lost approximately $270,000 worth of jewelry and other valuables when burglars broke into his room at the SpringHill Suites in Port St. Lucie on Sunday.

Burgos said he didn't realize anything had been taken until Tuesday, and that authorities have since recovered a portion of what was stolen. He planned to visit the police station after his workout on Wednesday to see what the police had recovered.

Speechless: Randolph said he hadn't addressed the topic of last season with his team yet this spring, and he didn't plan on doing so until he pared the roster down well below its current size. As long as rookies and non-roster invitees -- and even new additions, such as Ryan Church and Brian Schneider -- continue to float around, Randolph said he wouldn't broach the topic.

"Why express something that was painful to a bunch of guys who weren't even there?" Randolph said. "They can't understand or feel what that is."

Mets bits: Reliever Scott Schoeneweis was absent on Wednesday for personal reasons. He's due back in camp on Thursday. ... Infielder Fernando Tatis and pitcher Tony Armas still haven't reported to Mets camp due to visa problems.

Just visiting: Veteran pitcher Freddy Garcia, once said to be prominent on the Mets' pre-Johan Santana wish list, was in camp on Wednesday, speaking with his friends Santana and Pedro Martinez. And Garcia, a free agent recuperating from right shoulder surgery, and his agents spoke with general manager Omar Minaya as well. But the Mets' sense of his availability is that he won't be ready until late in the season.

"He's like Pedro was last year -- late," Minaya said. "There's nothing there now."

The problem is catching: The first day of live batting practice -- i.e., big league hitters facing big league batters -- provided a few moments and a few minor problems.

"Lots of foul tips," catcher Ramon Castro said before he caught BP. "I'll be all black and blue."

It also brought blinking: "The first day, you always blink," Castro said. "I don't care who you are, you blink the first day. Any catcher who says he doesn't is lying."

Indicative of? The first day of infield practice had the starting infielders working together on one field, with Anderson Hernandez backing up Jose Reyes at shortstop and Jose Valentin backing up Luis Castillo at second base. Ruben Gotay was otherwise situated. Nonetheless, Randolph holds out little hope that Valentin will be ready to help the big league team until weeks after the season begins. But Randolph has a special place in his heart for the veteran.

__________________
"..., because hope don't park the motherfucking car."